FF: Hello my faithful lurkers and reviewers! It is time... *drumroll* For another chapter! AND IT'S EARLY! Yay! *confetti flutters through the air* I was a little afraid this was going to be posted late since Fanfiction wouldn't let me login for quite a bit, but, thankfully, whatever the problem was, was fixed.

the potatoe one: yup! Hooray for backstory! You wouldn't believe how many times I've reread it looking for plot holes. Sorry it takes so long to update, I'm still writing the story! But I should be done in the next couple months...hopefully. I know, I would show you, but she and Donny are being rather possessive with it. Yeah, silly Donny. But these are pretty big revelations, so we can't blame him TOO much, right? (Haha, that's probably true! Dude drinks so much coffee its like he breathes it...) I'm glad you liked!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Since YOU, the potatoe one, were the only person to review, this chapter is dedicated to and posted in advancement for you! Enjoy! :)

FF: Now then! Shall Donny freak out again? How will Liza handle this delicate situation? And when's Lyska gonna pop up again? Let's find out...


"I don't know what to think"

(Late May)

"What!? But- how?!" Donatello was dumbfounded by this sudden revelation, slumping back in his shock.

"As long as I've known her, she has been a mutant- and I've known her my entire life...I think." Liza added as she nervously rubbed the back of her head.

"You think?" He repeated, trying hard to calm his whirling mind- his thoughts were all over the place.

"I'm an orphan, remember? Taken in by rich people who felt bad for me?" The brunette reminded him. She sighed and folded her hands. "I told you how my adopted parents told me they found me on the street, starving and battered...I didn't tell you that they also found Lyska with me."

"So when you say 'sisters' you mean..." He trailed off for Liza to finish his sentence.

"I mean non-blood related sisterhood. I mean a catgirl and a...and me? The odds are way too low for us to be blood related." She smiled fondly. "Though we like to pretend they're not."

After a moment of silence, Donny ordered quietly, "Explain please. My brain might explode if you don't."

With a half-smile at what he said, Liza did as she was told.

"My sister and I were found together and raised together by the Richardson family. We were kept inside the manor at all times to hide us from prying eyes- only our adopted parents and the staff ever saw us. They imposed a lot of rules to keep us safe, the number one rule being never to go outside unless it was okayed. Which it never really was...

"When she was around twelve and I was eleven, she left. She was sick and tired of hiding and wanted to escape from the endless rules, to explore the world. She hated being cooped up inside.

"I tried to talk her out of it, but she refused to listen. She's stubborn like that. She offered to take me with her but...I said no. I was too scared." Liza hung her head a moment, her expression pained and guilty. "Sometimes I wish I'd chosen differently..."

After a brief moment of silence, her gaze flicked to him, she shook herself, and resumed the story. "Anyways, I helped her get supplies for her trip- I knew she wouldn't budge on the matter and I didn't want her to be unprepared. She left one night while I was asleep and left me and our adopted parents a note saying goodbye.

"Our parents freaked of course, who wouldn't? But, since they couldn't call the police and all their search attempts had failed, they gave up on the wide scale searches, though they still keep an eye out here and there as best they can.

"Then, when I was fourteen, she came back. She'd gone all over the place and had gotten lost, but she managed to get home. She said she missed me more and more every day until she couldn't bear it and had to come back.

"She's visited me ever since and leaves notes for our parents every so often to reassure them she's okay. No one is supposed to know about her except me, my parents, and the staff." She looked at him earnestly, willing him to understand. "Not only that, but she just...she knew I might one day find someone who I'd trust but she doesn't trust very easily and made me promise never to tell anyone about her without her permission first."

There was another silence, but this one was calmer and less tense than the one before-hand as the brunette waited anxiously for his reaction.

"...okay." Donny stated slowly, nodding thoughtfully as he mulled it over in his mind. "Okay, that makes sense."

"It's...it's like my watch, Donny. I've been taught all my life never to tell anyone about it and its purpose. Ever. It's...hard to break that habit." She hung her head. "I'm sorry I've kept secrets and I'm sorry I'm still keeping the one with my watch to myself, but I can't tell you. Not yet."

The purple masked turtle reached out and gently patted her head, causing her to look up in surprise. "It's okay. I'm a little miffed you didn't tell me...but, I understand why now. I forgive you." He soothed, tentatively opening his arms to her- a peace offering and an apology.

She smiled at him in relief and happily accepted the hug, even adding in a nuzzle to show her gratitude. "So...will you? Meet her, I mean?" Liza asked, pulling back enough to look him concernedly in the eyes.

After a pause, he nodded. "Yes, I will meet her. But please tell me what she's like- I don't want to accidentally say something wrong and then have another family member rooting against this."

Liza giggled at that. "You kind of already know what she's like, actually."

"What?" He confusedly looked down at her, pulling back.

"Well," she continued chuckling, though she did make an effort to stop by biting her lip. "From what you've told me of your brothers, imagine a female version of both Raph and Mikey put together."

Liza burst out laughing at his expression and did not stop until seven minutes later.


A day later...

"Are you okay?" Liza asked, unable to repress a sympathetic smile as she turned to her companion.

"I guess you could say I'm nervous." Donatello admitted, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other. "It's not every day one meets a cat mutant who happens to be their best friend's sister."

Lyska had agreed to come to their meeting place to meet Donny and to spend some time with her sibling- and from Liza's retelling to Donny, the catgirl seemed far too overeager...which rather unnerved him.

They were waiting, side by side in front of the entrance on the interior of the glade, for Lyska to appear.

I'm so nervous it's almost like I'm her boyfriend going to meet her parents for the first time... He thought to himself a little sourly, then froze. He suddenly felt rather flustered and uncomfortable with that simile.

With an unnerved gulp, he hurried to engage Liza in conversation, hoping to distract himself.

"By the way Liza," He leaned down slightly to his right where the brunette beside him glanced over. "When you said she was a mixture of Raph and Mikey did you mean mostly aggression or mostly mischievousness?"

She laughed. "It's hard to tell sometimes."

"Oh. Goodie." He muttered, straightening and looking around. "When did she say she was coming, again?"

"She didn't, she just said that she'd come as fast as she coul-" Liza cut off midsentence, freezing in place.

"Liza?"

A speculative, suspicious look on her face, the brunette turned slowly to the meadow, her mouth still open. She licked her lips once, cocked her head, then looked to her left.

"Must you hide, Lyska? Couldn't you have just come in like a normal catgirl?" She sighed, glaring tiredly at the foliage.

"Ah, sibling..." A rough yet feminine voice chuckled and Donatello did his best not to stare as a figure emerged.

The catgirl Liza had told him about flowed easily from the bushes, walking on all four paws and paw-hands, her extremely long tail twitching and coiling behind her.

Her limbs were thick with muscle, her triangular ears were pricked, her back paws' claws gleamed in the moonlight, and, as she smiled- revealing sharp fangs-, she never moved her calculating silvery blue eyes from his face.

"Whoever said that I was a normal catgirl?" She purred silkily as she stalked over, nodding to her sibling and the turning to the ninja turtle to the brunette's left. "So, you are the person I've been hearing about."

Lyska lifted her upper limbs off the ground to stand vertically instead of her previously horizontal position, which made her a few inches taller than Donatello with her oddly jointed legs bent. He had a feeling she did this just to try to intimidate him.

"It's nice to meet you Lyska." He held out a hand for her to shake, smiling nervously.

"I'll decide that." She responded cheerily, reluctantly accepting his handshake for a moment before turning back to her sister. "So, do you have any activities for us all to do?"

"Yep, I brought some cards and a few board games." The brunette affirmed, turning to snatch her bag off the ground and hold it up. "Oh, and, Donny, did you bring the camera?"

"Sure did and the ink's all refilled. Paper too." He proudly displayed the camera and handed it to Liza, fighting not to send a nervous glance to the catgirl- he could feel her gaze boring into him.

"Great. I'll be in charge of the camera. Now then, who wants to play what?" She trotted over and plopped onto the grass beside the boulder, pulling a packet of cards out of her bag. "Oh! And I brought snacks!" She added, holding a plastic bag of oreos in the air, along with another bag of chocolate chip cookies and a thermos peeking out of her bag.

"Ooh! Snacks!" Lyska licked her lips and happily hurried over, followed more hesitantly by Donny- who had been made a little anxious by her response to his greeting. It was like she was trying to freak him out...oh wait. She was.

"Okay, so first of all comes..." Liza looked down at the card packet, twisting it to see the logo on it. "UNO!"

"Nooooo!" Lyska groaned, letting her head fall back while she settled herself to Liza's right. "That game hates me!"

"It does not." The brunette laughed and, as she shuffled and dealt the cards, explained to Donny, "I would nearly always win when we played UNO so she thinks that the cards hate her and rig themselves in my favor."

"It's true, I tell you!" Lyska protested vehemently, throwing one arm into the air to point towards the heavens.

For the next one and a half hours, they played card games and board games that consisted of UNO (Donny managed to beat Liza to which Lyska cheered ecstatically that the 'UNO Queen' had been dethroned), Apples to Apples (Liza won mostly), Hit or Miss (Lyska proved to be the most specific of all), Go Fish (Donny won), and Cheater (which Lyska was surprisingly good at, given that she hated cheaters.)

Liza managed to get some great snapshots of everyone laughing, talking, playing cards, or their reactions to random things as she would sometimes trade the camera to someone else when she wanted a break.

Throughout it all, Lyska seemed to accept Donatello and was friendly, in her own weird way, to him. Liza was more perceptive to her sibling's nice-ness than Donny was, sadly, so he was rather jumpy throughout the events.

"Hey, Liza? Do you have any more chocolate chip cookies?" Lyska asked, smiling up hopefully at her sibling from where she was lying on her stomach, a fan of cards held in her grasp.

"Like you need any more sugar in your system." Liza quipped playfully, dodging the few cards that were thrown at her in retaliation as she stood up and trotted over to where she'd left her bag anyway.

The catgirl watched as the brunette walked off to the edge of the glade, muttering about how she had no clue how it came to be that far away. Then she turned her silvery blue gaze onto the turtle across from her.

He either was oblivious to her staring or was ignoring her, focusing intently on his cards.

"So, Donatello," She let the name roll from her mouth lazily as she propped her chin up in one paw, smiling as she saw him tense at the tone of intentness in her voice.

"Yes?" His eyes flicked up to hers for a moment before retreating back to his cards. He was still a uneasy around her- the thought pleased her.

"What are your intentions for my sister?"

He nearly choked on air in his surprise, coughing a little and, once regaining enough breath, asking hoarsely, "Excuse me?"

"It's a perfectly reasonable question." Lyska stated, calmly watching him with unblinking eyes.

"Yeah, if two people are in a relationship!" He hissed, suddenly understanding why Lyska had so abruptly asked for snacks and why the bag had so mysteriously changed places.

"Do you two not have a relationship?" Lyska asked, a grin on her face. She was teasing him now.

"Ye- no- not in the way you're implying!" Donny stammered, a blush forming on his cheeks from the catgirl's insinuations. "And keep your voice down!" For some reason he really really didn't want Liza finding out about this conversation- she was digging through her bag on the clearing's other side so she was unaware of what was going on- but he attributed it to the fact that the brunette would be horribly embarrassed.

"Hmm..." The blonde hummed in thought, the smile dropping from her lips. "Are you aware that humans can release specific pheromones that show their emotions?"

"Uh, yes, actually." He answered, a little nervous but confused about the sudden topic shift. He eyed her warily. "Why?"

"Are you aware that you give off specific pheromones when Liza is around?" Lyska continued, nonchalantly examining her claws, (actually her claws are the sharp endpoints of her finger bones poking through a specialized sheath on her fingertips.)

"Wha-! I...I do?" He whispered, eyes wide and stunned and slightly embarrassed yet felt his scientist side becoming intrigued.

"Mmmm-hmm!" The catgirl nodded, the grin back on her face and a glint in her eyes. "And I know exactly what they mean..."

"Sorry, sis! No more chocolate chip cookies. No cookies left at all actually." Liza sent her a mock glare as she approached, her bag in her grasp, before sitting back down in her original spot. "So, I think it's my turn and- hey. What's wrong? You're all flushed, Donny."

As Liza looked over to him in concern, Donny jumped, cleared his throat and offered a shaky smile. "Uh, no, no. I'm fine Liza. Totally fine. Anyway, let's play!"

She gave him a confused look, but allowed her attention to be turned back to the game. Lyska watched with interest.

They played for a few more rounds then called it quits, not wanting to stay too long for fear of discovery and packing it in early just in case. They chatted contentedly as they walked through the tunnel, and paused at the exit.

"Well, I've got to get back home pretty quick. Leo will have my head if I'm late for training again." Donny chuckled.

"Have fun with that." Liza laughed in sympathy and hugged her dear friend goodbye. "See you later, Donny."

"See ya." He smiled at her almost nervously as he hugged her back, a strange hesitance in the action, and then he was off, heading home until their next meeting.

"Bye, Donatello!" Lyska called, satisfied that he waved to her before vanishing into the forest.

"Alright, you've met him. What'd you think of him?" The brunette turned to her sibling, her hazel eyes nervous.

The catgirl mulled about what to say for a moment, one hand to her mouth, her arm wrapped around her midsection. "I like 'em." She decided, smiling brightly at the younger girl.

Liza's smile was positively radiant as she lunged forward to hug the mutant. "YES! I knew you would! I knew it!"

"And he likes you." Lyska added.

"What? But of course he likes me! We're friends! And- wait." She froze, her eyes widening. "You mean, as in, like like?"

"Well, y'know how I can tell emotions by the pheromones someone gives off?" The catgirl waited for her sibling to nod, her jaw dropping with realization, before continuing needlessly, "I keep getting whiffs of scents that tell me that he's interested in you."

"Wha- me?" The brunette blinked in shock, stunned. "He likes...me?"

"I think so, and the way he reacted when I asked him what his intentions for you were-"

"Lyska!" Liza's face was steadily reddening with a blush in horrified embarrassment.

"-was very supportive of him liking you. He just may not know it yet." She finished, shrugging. Even though I practically smacked him across the face with hints... The catgirl added silently.

Liza's hazel eyes were wide as she staggered back a step. "He...he likes me? Me?" She whispered again, dumbfounded by the thought even as a faint smile curved the corners of her mouth upwards.

"Looks like you like him too." Lyska commented softly, before adding, "Smells like it as well, you're giving off pheromones from just the thought of him!"

"Oh, I-I am? But I...I..." She swallowed hard, her face scarlet. She paused, thinking fiercely for a moment as she slowly calmed. "...I think...you're right... I just, I didn't think-"

"Hey, it's okay!" The older girl soothed the younger, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Look, I may not know much about love- mainly by choice- but I know that it's okay to feel it and it's gonna be confusing as all get out. Just...make sure you're sure about it."

At Liza's confused face, she added, "Make sure you truly love him before you do anything. I don't want you or him getting your hearts broken, alright?" She tapped her sibling's nose, earning a chuckle and her hand swatted lightly away. "And don't let this become some sappy romance movie when you confess your love in the rain or something." It's too much like Romeo and Juliet as it is...

"I promise, sis. I will, somehow, make sure." The brunette assured the catgirl, smiling affectionately and gratefully. "But first-" She pointed up in the air dramatically.

"Research!"


'Love: An intense feeling of deep affection'

'A profoundly tender or passionate affection for another'

'You'll miss your partner whenever he/she is gone, you think about them constantly, you want to be around them all the time, and they make your head spin. You feel safe and have a strong trust with your partner- you know you can depend on him/her.'

Liza scribbled down a few more lines, her gaze flicking back and forth from her laptop to her notebook as she lay on her bed, comfortably settled on her stomach. Once finished, she closed that window and then pulled up a different one, scanning its contents and hurriedly writing down more information on her notebook.

Finally, she dropped her pen and blew air through her lips, running her fingers through her hair. She twisted her neck side to side to work out the soreness, letting her hands link on the back of her neck as she propped herself up with her elbows.

Ohhhhh, so much information and yet so little! She had listed key facts but, deep in her heart, she knew they would never be enough.

Love was far too mysterious and far too difficult to explain when one was in love, let alone never having been in it before. How was she to know if the affection she felt for Donatello was real?

She pursed her lips in frustration, and then clicked on a few different links. Maybe some quizzes would help? She could compare the similarities, maybe.

Oh goodness. She was turning to internet quizzes.

Her head dropped to the mattress and she groaned, letting her arms flop limp.

This was hopeless. She'd have to feel her way through as best she could with her inexperienced, damaged heart.


Meanwhile, hidden away in his bedroom, Donatello was lost in thought, almost in a daze with the intensity of his concentration.

Lyska had said that he gave off pheromones that indicated he was interested in Liza. 'Romantically interested' from her insinuations.

That couldn't be true...could it? He couldn't possibly have developed...romantic feelings for her...could he?

Flashes of memories sprang up before his mind's eye:

Talking tentatively with her during their first few meetings.

Laughing with her as she mispronounced the names of the chemicals he was using in his experiments.

Comforting her as she cried.

Arguing with her, seeing the anger flash in her eyes.

Playing with her as they chased each other and threw mud at each other.

Her saying that he had the nicest pair of brown eyes she'd ever seen.

Dancing with her in the rain, the feel of her pressed against him.

Seeing the mischievous glints in her smiles, the warm comfort in her understanding gaze.

He jerked upright in his bed, eyes wide in astonishment. All throughout such things, he'd felt emotions he'd never felt with such intensity before. He felt feelings that never appeared anywhere else except with her.

He remembered the devastated feeling after their fight, the sheer pain from it all. He'd only felt pain like that a few times, when one of his family was hurt.

But this was different. It was a different feeling of hurt then what he felt with his relatives.

It was true. He did like her.

But such a relationship would be impossible! It could never work between a human and a mutant!

...could it?

He moaned to himself and pressed his hands to his face.

UGH! This was hopeless!

Yet he felt a lingering hope that refused to be extinguished and, for once, he felt grateful for its presence.

FF: Aww, look, they're finally getting it! (Let's encourage that line of thinking with reviews please? 0w0)And it only took them...*counts* about 77 pages' worth of writing to figure it out U_U Let's work on that speed guys, mkay?!

Donny: *glares*

Liza: *gives a dry look*

FF: Oh, yes! I almost forgot! You guys can now speak to and ask these two sillies whatever you want! Lyska too if she permits it, and maybe the others as well! But we have to be secretive- can't let the bros know, can we? Have fun!